(from a speech i gave this weekend)

The second lesson: This was on the 8th day. It says Moses began the process and then asked Aaron to come close to the altar. Rashi writes that Aaron was scared and embarrassed. He was thinking to himself, “I don’t have the merit to be part of the revelation of Light.” Moses said to Aaron, “Don’t think you don’t have the merit. This is why you were chosen. You were chosen because you have this feeling of lack of merit.”

There is a very important lesson here. For thousands of years, people have said that you have to be very holy to study from the Zohar. We at the Centre know the Zohar is for everybody. In reality, it is very difficult to do the transformation, to achieve lasting fulfillment without the connection to the Zohar. Therefore the Zohar is for everybody.

Unfortunately, when we consistently make our connections, we too often forget about the merit that we have to even be making these connections.

I was talking with a chevre about the merit of our work. He was talking about something he wanted to do differently. It is important to want to do things better, but I shared with this person that I felt there was a lack of appreciation for the merit we have to do this work. When we do this all the time, it is difficult to remember the merit we have to do it. Those of us who have committed our lives have a tremendous merit to be part of this work. All of us here have tremendous merit to be here.

We understand that without this constant connection we cannot achieve lasting fulfillment. But do any of us understand the tremendous merit we have every time we open the Zohar? If we don’t, we don’t maximize the Light we can receive from the connections.

Before we are involved in making any connection, take one second, five seconds, to think how great your merit must be to be aware of this spiritual work.

This is the deepness of what Moses was telling Aaron. He said, “Do you know why you were chosen? You were chosen because you are embarrassed.” Without going in to the technical reasoning of Rashi, Moses said to Aaron, “The one reason you can make this connection is because you are not just running to it. Before you go to the altar, you say you are embarrassed to do this. You can reveal so much Light because you understand how powerful it is, and because you are embarrassed to do it.”

If it is the daily connection to the Zohar, or the connection to spreading this Light, we should be embarrassed. It’s true that if you appreciate the power of the Light you have to be embarrassed. The only reason we would not be embarrassed is because we don’t understand the power of the Light that will be revealed.

Moses could have chosen any number of people to make the connection. He told Aaron specifically, “You are right because you understand how powerful this connection is and you don’t think you have the merit to do it.”

Every one of us connects in a different way. Those of us who will make the strongest connection are those who say, “I am so thankful that I have the merit to make this connection, and I’m a little embarrassed to be given this merit, but I know I need it and I will make this connection.” This will maximize our connection. Don’t forget because you have done it for so many years. Think how lucky you are that you even know this connection exists and you have the merit to make it.

Just to read again the words of the Kabbalists, Moses says to Aaron, “Why are you embarrassed? Because you understand the merit, because you understand how lucky you are to make this connection. That is why you were chosen and why you can reveal this Light.”